Friday, April 12, 2013

External issues won't affect support for Richard Riot

SERIAN, 12 April (Bernama) -- External issues will not affect support for the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the Serian parliamentary constituency, said Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Richard Riot, who is also the incumbent Member of Parliament for Serian.

He said many development programmes had been implemented by the BN-led government in Serian and the electorate could assess the situation now.

"I believe external issues or national issues brought by the opposition will not influence the voting trend in Serian.

"We are not over-confident but are optimistic that BN will still be the choice of the electorate in Serian," he said.

Riot cited the RM260 million clean water supply project implemented by the government for the benefit of more than 70 per cent of the electorate that was expected to be ready in time for the 'Hari Gawai' celebration.

The 61-year-old veteran Member of Parliament disclosed this to Bernama after attending the 'Leader With The People' programme at the Kampung Tebedu Mawang Community Hall, Tebedu, here today.

Riot, who has been the Serian MP for five terms, expressed confidence that the hard work put in by the BN in the constituency since 1990 would help the coalition to retain the seat in the 13th general election (GE13).

Commenting further, Riot, who is deputy president of the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), said the BN government was always committed in assisting to provide public amenities such as electricity, water and roads.

"The electricity supply project in the Tebedu state constituency had been completed and provides benefit to 18 villages while another electricity supply project that will benefit eight villages in the Kedup state constituency is being planned for completion by 2014 at the latest.

"The government has also approved the construction of a primary school with a hostel in Tong Nibong while another primary school that would cater for the needs of residents in 14 villages in the area is also being built," he said.

In the 2008 general election, Riot won in Serian, where the Bidayuh make up the majority, beating Sylvester Belayong Jayang from Sarawak National Party with a majority of 13,427 votes.

The BN also won the two state seats in the Serian Parliamentary constituency, namely Tebedu and Kedup in the Sarawak state election in 2011.

According to the electoral roll gazetted on Feb 22, the Serian Parliamentary constituency has 33,765 voters.

-- BERNAMA

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